The CBS Radio Workshop debuted at the end of the Age of Classic Radio, which was a time of innovation and experimentation, especially in terms of radio drama. The ten-hour Volume 4 includes “All Is Bright”, a history of the famous Christmas song; “1489 Words”, which featured the debut of later film composer Jerry Goldsmith’s “The Thunder of Imperial Names”, which was written for a concert band and was based on a text piece by Thomas Wolfe; a two-part adaptation of Frederick Pohl and Cyril M. Cornbluth’s The Space Merchants, which offers a satirical look at rampant consumerism from the viewpoint of an advertising executive; Archibald MacLeish’s “Air Raid”, the series’ only re-broadcast, which had first been written for the 1938 Columbia Workshop. Aired during the Cold War era, it took on a sinister new meaning; Henry Fritch’s “The Endless Road”, about a road to nowhere being built in the Caribbean and the corruption surrounding its construction; “A Dog’s Life”, which was the actual recordings of a pound dog being adopted raised by a man; Rose Orente’s “Carlotta’s Serape”, a play in verse, was the winner of a jury-chosen contest offered by The Academy of American Poets and CBS; Elliott Lewis wrote, directed and performed “Nightmare”, about a man who suffers from nightmares so bad that he can no longer distinguish sleep from reality.

The man behind CBS Radio Workshop, which debuted in 1956, was William Froug. Inspired directly by the work of Norman Corwin on the original Columbia Workshop, Froug put all the pieces together to produce a program that took the best of what had come before it and succeeded even further in production, performance and storytelling.

CBS Radio Workshop not only continued to push boundaries in terms of utilizing story, music, voice and more in exciting, modern ways, it broke new ground in radio drama. In short, the CBS Radio Workshop set the standard for modern audio drama.

Blending sound effects with story, music with voice, and quality with substance, the episodes on CBS Radio Workshop, Volume 4 shows how boundless storytelling can be with audio drama.

#47 The Big Event

Sunday, December 16, 1956 - 30:00 - CBS

#48 All Is Bright

Sunday, December 23, 1956 - 30:00 - CBS

#49 Carl Sandburg: America's Minstrel

(Note: Poor quality. This show is included only because of the importance of the show and to have a complete run of the series)